Smylie Kaufman picks who he thinks has had the better season out of Tommy Fleetwood and J.J. Spaun

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Tommy Fleetwood securing his first PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship felt like a fitting conclusion to the FedEx Cup playoffs with the Englishman clearly an incredibly popular winner at East Lake.

While Scottie Scheffler was certainly the player of the year on the PGA Tour, it was arguably a number of the tournaments which the world number one did not win which provided some of the best storylines.

Of course, Rory McIlroy clinching The Masters produced one of the most iconic moments in the game’s history. And it was difficult not to draw some similarities after watching Tommy Fleetwood win the Tour Championship given the wait for the 34-year-old’s first win on the PGA Tour.

Fleetwood had been knocking on the door for such a long time. He should have won the Travelers Championship in June while he also had a brilliant chance to win the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

Smylie Kaufman suggests whether Tommy Fleetwood or J.J. Spaun

Another player who may be able to relate to Fleetwood’s journey is J.J. Spaun, with the American following his playoff defeat to McIlroy at The Players Championship by winning the US Open a few months later.

Winning a major is the pinnacle for many. However, when asked on The Smylie Show to put together his podium of the players who have had the best season, Smylie Kaufman suggested that Fleetwood probably has the slight edge over Spaun.

“Oh gosh, good question. Well, Scottie, gold. Rory McIlroy, silver,” he said.

“I don’t want to be prisoner of the moment here, but I think Tommy Fleetwood gets the bronze. Yeah, it’s 100 percent, Tommy Fleetwood at three.

“You could make an argument that J.J. Spaun’s season [was better because of the US Open], and the second at The Players, and then second, losing in a playoff in Memphis.

“That’s a really, really high level deserving of at least consideration for bronze. Tommy, I think if you count the playoffs as signature events, which you don’t, but just in big events, this guy finished in the top five a ton.”

“And so getting that win at the Tour Championship has for me, elevated to where his consistency in the big events – he only played signature events and big events – so I just think his overall consistency probably gives me the bronze for him. But J.J. Spaun was definitely somebody you have to consider.”

How Tommy Fleetwood’s season compares with J.J. Spaun’s year

It will be very interesting to see if Kaufman’s view changes once the dust settles on Fleetwood’s win at the Tour Championship.

The two players have both had outstanding years, and there is not a great deal between them when it comes to some of the statistics.

Fleetwood was a more regular fixture in the top 10, while Spaun finished in the top two on four occasions.

The European only missed one cut all year. And while Spaun played a few more full field events, Fleetwood still deserves credit having barely finished outside the top 25 all year.

However, if offered the chance, you would imagine that Fleetwood would swap his Tour Championship triumph for victory at Oakmont.

With that, Spaun will probably not mind a great deal having the US Open trophy to console him after missing out on a spot on Kaufman’s podium.